Hey seniors, it’s time to reconsider your prom house.

Every year, many students leave after their senior prom to go to a vacation home with all of their friends. Usually, this is a continuation of a weekend long party and even dangerous encounters with drugs and alcohol.

The reason for this is that the seniors end school on May 22 and Prom is on May 23. Since graduation is on May 31, students have plenty of time to leave town and party with their prom group. However, prom house is an addition to prom culture that is unnecessary. Prom is about the dance itself, not a wild, three day after party.

Prom house poses a danger to students because it is typically unsupervised partying. We all know what happens when you put enough 18 year olds in a room together and it usually does not end well. Some students that do not usually drink or do drugs feel pressure to over indulge on prom night, which leads to countless dangers.

Many high school students end up in the hospital on prom night as a result of close encounters with drugs. Clearly, prom house is unsafe.

Assistant Superintendent Marcus Campbell sees prom house as a major concern and danger to students. Campbell recognizes while it is a portion of the prom culture, unsupervised drinking is discouraged by the school.

True, prom house is a fun way celebrate the end of school. Additionally, ETHS cannot have as much control of what goes on outside of the school nor are they liable for accidents that happen to students outside of school.

Not all prom houses have to include drinking and drug use, but it is almost impossible to guarantee that these things will not happen.

While prom house is a lot of fun, it is simply unsafe for a group of 18 year olds to drive to another state for a weekend of unsupervised partying. Prom should be about a dance, not an extensive, wild after party.

ETHS should do more to prevent students from going to prom house. In the future, prom should be held the weekend before the last day of school so that students must attend school through the following week and cannot go out of town.